Yesterday I enjoyed my lunch on the patio. The number of warm sunny days is going to start declining with autumn starting up, so I relaxed and really enjoyed watching the insects busy at work in the garden. Honey bees were busy working away, harvesting pollen from a huge flowering Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. Enormous spiders were building a city of webs amid Nandina ‘Gulf Stream’, Berberis ‘Rosy Glow’ and Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’. I put myself in the mind of the spider wondering if they were hoping to catch a honeybee in their web. Simultaneously, I remarked to myself how the honeybees swiftly and carefully managed to dodge around the shiny webs each time they went buzzing through Spider row.

After sitting on the patio for a while, watching all of these fairly docile insects, I realized that I hadn’t been bothered by yellow jackets. Usually this time of year they are very agressive — chasing, biting, and going on the attack. They are particularly drawn to non-pollen food this time of year, knowing the cold season is nearly here. Still, my delicious lunch didn’t bring them to the table. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to have a few moments of stillness with my food. But, I wondered where they were. Then, I saw them…

Wasps and yellow jackets alike were all making a beeline for my bubbling pot. At first I thought the pitcher plants might be attracting them. Nothing else was blooming. But no, the pitcher plants weren’t their target. (Flies were still heading for them though, including Hover Flies, which look a lot like bees and wasps.) But, back to the real wasps & yellow jackets…Turns out they were climbing down through the water hyacinth plants to get to the water. As soon as they were done, they would take off in a beeline back in the direction they’d come from.

I doubt they were coming for just a drink. But maybe they’re harvesting water? Are they building mud nests? If so, it looks like the nest is far from my patio, which is fine by me. I know wasps like water, and apparently they’re drawn to running water. So, if you have a water feature or standing water, keep an eye out this fall for wasps. If you leave them alone, they probably won’t bother you. If you try to chase them off, they may turn on you.